Brexit today: David Davis vows UK will not be plunged into 'Mad Max-style' world after EU exit - as it happened

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David Davis delivers Brexit speech in Vienna

Fears that Britain will be plunged into a "Mad Max-style" dystopia after Brexit are baseless, David Davis has told business leaders in Vienna.

In the latest in a series of high-profile speeches on the EU withdrawal, the Brexit Secretary insisted that ministers are not planning to sweep away regulations in a "race to the bottom" on taxes and standards.

As pressure mounts on Theresa May to unite her warring Cabinet, Brexiteers Michael Gove and Liam Fox delivered major speeches, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson faced questions from MPs in the Commons.

Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring apologised for appearing to downplay allegations of sexual misconduct by some charity staff in Haiti following a devastating earthquake in 2010.

More than 7,000 people have cancelled regular donations to the charity since the scandal broke, he told MPs on the International Development Committee.

Elsewhere, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to strip the City of London of its dominance in a speech accusing the financial sector of having a “pernicious and undemocratic” control over British politics.

As it happened...

Key Points

• Brexit will not end in 'Mad Max-style' dystopia, David Davis has told EU business leaders
• Oxfam boss apologises for saying criticism over allegations of sexual misconduct in Haiti was 'out of proportion'
• Sacked Cabinet minister Damian Green insists he did not behave inappropriately towards young Tory activist
• Claims about Jeremy Corbyn's contact with a Czech spy in the 1980s described as "baseless right-wing propaganda"
• Labour Leader vows to strip City of London of dominance

[20 February 2018 12:04 · Lizzy Buchan]

Mark Goldring says Oxfam was trying to help a million people in a desperate situation and the decisions it made were made in "good faith".

SNP's Chris Law says it appeared that the charity was more interested in "preserving their own brand" than the safety of women and girls. Mr Goldring says he is sorry if it appears that way, it was not the charity's intention.

[20 February 2018 12:15 · Lizzy Buchan]

All British aid workers will have DBS checks when working with vulnerable people, but more needs to be done, he said.

A humanitarian passport for staff moving between organisations could be on the cards, but Mr Goldring said Parliament may need to help the charity sector come up with new proposals.

[20 February 2018 12:21 · Lizzy Buchan]

Chairman Stephen Twigg says the committee will launch an investigation into the events in Haiti and may seek to compel those in charge to come before MPs to explain themselves.

He welcomed the tone of the evidence - saying it was "striking" how many times Mark Goldring has apologised. However he said it was clear that there were times that Oxfam had "put its reputation ahead of beneficiaries".

Mr Twigg said there were "wider challenges across the sector" and the challenges were not new. He urged Oxfam to "get your house in order" and to show the public that they were doing so.

[20 February 2018 12:58 · Kristin Hugo]

The International Development Committee is now questionning senior figures at the Department for International Development (DfID).

Tory MP Pauline Latham says she raised the issue of sexual abuse by aid workers with DfID several years ago and called for an international register of aid workers but received a reply saying this would be "too difficult".

Matthew Rycroft, the most senior civil servant at DfID, says after the reveleations of abuse by Oxfam aid workers, "nothing is in the 'too difficult' box anymore".

[20 February 2018 13:12 · Kristin Hugo]

Pauline Latham MP asks what can be done to stop abusers targetting vulnerable people. She says:

"What is wrong with this minority of men, that they cannot keep their trousers up and they have to go for very, very vulnerable ppl in the most vulernable situations in the world?

"What's wrong with these men? Do they need mental health help? Because if they do let's get them some. But they should not be doing this and nobody can believe that it's right."

Mr Rycroft says he cannot explain or justify the behaviour but says the department is determined "to use this crisis to get the whole of the sector into better shape".

[20 February 2018 13:38 · Kristin Hugo]

Theresa May has called on the other political parties to encourage some of their Peers to retire as a way of reducing the size of the House of Lords.

The Prime Minister told Cabinet colleagues she is committed to reducing the number of lords.

[20 February 2018 13:40 · Kristin Hugo]

Jeremy Corbyn is currently speaking at the National Manufacturing Conference in central London.

He says:

"The Tories’ approach to Brexit is threatening to turn our skills crisis into a catastrophe, especially for manufacturers that rely on recruiting skilled workers from overseas.

Brexit is for many an emotive subject, but for business, it is first and foremost a practical matter.

To make decisions about where, when, perhaps even whether to invest, you need to know what markets you will have access to, what regulations and product standards you will be subject to, who you will be able to recruit, what will happen to our supply chains, which we all know are currently integrated across borders.

That’s why Labour has from the start taken the practical position of accepting the result of the referendum and insisting the economy must come first. We are leaving the EU but our businesses must not withdraw from European markets. Business needs clarity and with two out of six of the Government’s “Road to Brexit” speeches already delivered, the Tories’ approach to Brexit is, if anything, less clear."

[20 February 2018 13:50 · Lizzy Buchan]

In one of several speeches from prominent Cabinet Brexiteers, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned EU leaders that imposing new tariff barriers with the UK after Brexit will simply make their own economies less competitive.

Addressing the EEF manufacturers' conference, Dr Fox said the Government was committed to protecting the interests of British exporters in the ongoing Brexit negotiations with Brussels.

He said that any attempt by the remaining 27 member states to create new barriers to trade would rebound against them.

"This Government opposes erecting barriers to trade where none yet exists, or disrupting the commercial relationships that exist between this country and our continental partners," he said.

"If Europe erects barriers to trade and investment that do not exist today, it will make Europe less competitive in a global context and less attractive to international investors."

Dr Fox said the Government's Brexit legislation would enable Britain to continue the EU's trade arrangements with third countries, protecting UK exporters' access to overseas markets.

"It will also give us the tools we need to fight back against any unfair subsidies or dumping from abroad," he said.

"We want to protect the interests of British manufacturers. We want to maintain your access to markets across Europe and beyond."

[20 February 2018 14:18 · Lizzy Buchan]

Environment Secretary Michael Gove also made a major speech to the National Farmers' Union (NFU) this morning, where he insisted that Britain's animal welfare and environmental standards would endure after Brexit.

The Press Association has filed this report:

The UK will not sign up to trade deals after Brexit that undermine high animal welfare or environmental standards, Michael Gove has said.

The Environment Secretary also said he believed the "landing point" for a deal on food and agriculture with the EU after the UK leaves the bloc would be a "pragmatic, tariff-free deal with as few barriers as possible".

Concerns have been raised that barriers to trade and free movement could hit the £110 billion-a-year agriculture and food sector, for which the EU accounts for 60% of exports and 70% of imports and provides many workers.

There are also fears trade deals with countries including the US could see imports of cheaper, lower-standard produce such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef.

Speaking at the National Farmers' Union annual conference in Birmingham, the Environment Secretary moved to reassure the agricultural sector that they would not be undercut by imports of such produce.

He echoed comments being made by Brexit Secretary David Davis in Vienna that the UK would not be pursuing a "Mad Max" deregulation agenda after it leaves the European Union.

"As we leave the EU we want to demonstrate we are a civilised developed economy and that when it comes to environmental protection and animal welfare, as is the case also when it come to the rights of working people, we don't want to see any diminuation and dilution of high standards.

"Leaving the EU is about exercising greater democratic control, not pursuing a race to the bottom."

Quizzed by farmers at the conference, Mr Gove also said: "We won't be signing trade deals that mean that British producers are undercut on animal welfare or environmental standards."

He also said the UK wanted to continue with tariff-free trade that was as "frictionless as possible" with the European Union after Brexit.

[20 February 2018 14:22 · Lizzy Buchan]

After a busy morning of speeches, MPs return to the Commons for the first session after the February recess.

Boris Johnson will be at the despatch box for Foreign Office questions shortly, followed by a string of ministerial statements and an urgent question on the case of Alfie Dingley - a young boy with a rare form of epilepsy who has been refused medical cannabis by the Home Office.